The pneumatic tire has been the solution of choice for vehicular mobility for over a century. The pneumatic tire obtains its mechanical attributes largely due to the action of internal air pressure in the tire cavity. Reaction to the inflation pressure provides correct rigidities to the belt and carcass components.
Good pressure maintenance is required to obtain the best performance from a pneumatic tire. Inflation pressure below that specified by the manufacturer can result in a loss of fuel economy. Furthermore, a conventional pneumatic tire is capable of very limited use after a complete loss of inflation pressure. Many tire constructions have been proposed for continued mobility of a vehicle after a complete loss of air pressure from the tire. Some runflat tire solutions are pneumatic tires having added sidewall reinforcements to permit the sidewalls to act as load supporting members during deflated operation. Other attempts to provide runflat capability utilize essentially annular reinforcing bands in the tire crown portion. In these solutions, the rigidity of the crown portion results partly from the inherent properties of the annular reinforcing band and partly from the reaction to inflation pressure. Still other solutions rely on secondary internal support structures attached to the wheel.
A tire designed to operate without the benefit of inflation pressure would require neither pressure maintenance nor pressure monitoring. However, structurally supported resilient tires such as solid tires or other elastomeric structures to date have not provided the levels of performance expected from a conventional pneumatic tire. A structurally supported resilient tire solution that delivered pneumatic tire-like performance would be a welcome improvement.